City proposes name change for Juanita Drive

Thursday

Nov 8, 2012 at 1:25 PM

In an attempt to overhaul the image of one of Tuscaloosa’s traditionally crime-ridden areas, city officials are suggesting a name change.Robin Edgeworth, director of the city’s Recovery Operations Department, suggested Tuesday to the City Council’s Properties Committee that Juanita Drive be given a more inspiring name.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | In an attempt to overhaul the image of one of Tuscaloosa’s traditionally crime-ridden areas, city officials are suggesting a name change.Robin Edgeworth, director of the city’s Recovery Operations Department, suggested Tuesday to the City Council’s Properties Committee that Juanita Drive be given a more inspiring name.“We’ve been out in the community and one thing we’ve heard is that the Juanita Drive area is known as a high-crime area,” Edgeworth said. “We don’t know if this will stop that (stigma), but to give the community a sense of hope … we propose this area be known, rather than Juanita Drive, as Rose Leaf Lane.”Intersecting with University Boulevard, Juanita Drive forms the shape of a backward “P” as it extends north, turns to the east, turns back to the south and then west again to intersect with itself.The north, east and southern sections will be Rose Leaf Lane, while the bottom of the “P” would be renamed Sixth Street East, according to the proposal adopted unanimously by the Properties Committee on Tuesday.All that remains before the name change is official is a vote by the full City Council, which could come as early as Nov. 13.The area surrounding Juanita Drive generated around 7 percent of the city’s total crime reports, based on crime statistics and data generated before the tornado of April 27, 2011, turned much of Alberta — including Juanita Drive — to rubble.Those crime statistics prompted the Tuscaloosa Police Department in December 2009 to open its East Precinct in the area.Within six months of the precinct’s opening, crime on Juanita Drive had dropped by 38 percent, but that doesn’t mean the crime has ended. In fact, a vehicle was struck by at least three bullets last month when a man opened fire near the intersection of Juanita Drive and University Boulevard.Edgeworth said the name Rose Leaf Lane was chosen, in part, because the rose leaf is traditionally known as a symbol of hope.It also allows roses to be incorporated in the future landscape plans for the area, she said.Councilman Kip Tyner, who represents Alberta as part of District 5, said he was strongly in favor of the name — and perception — change for Juanita Drive.He also said that the constituents he spoke to supported the change.“The residents really wanted this,” he said.